Apparatus for electrolytic purification of hydrogen

ABSTRACT

An improved process and apparatus for the production of hydrogen of high purity whereby a carbonaceous fuel is reformed to produce hydrogen and said hydrogen is recovered economically from said reforming operation through the use of an electrolytic process using chemical energy of the reforming process to reduce electrical energy needed and wherein a moist gas is added to the electrolyte to facilitate the electrolytic recovery of hydrogen at the cathode.

United States Patent 1191 Shalit APPARATUS FOR ELECTROLYTIC PURIFICATION OF HYDROGEN Harold Shalit, Drexel Hill, Pa.

Atlantic Richfield Company, Philadelphia, Pa.

Filed: Jan. 20, 1971 Appl. No.: 108,192

Related US. Application Data Division of Ser. No. 807,865, March 17, 1969, Pat. No. 3,577,329.

[75] Inventor:

[73] Assignee:

US. Cl 204/246, 204/247, 204/292 Int. Cl C22d 3/02, BOlk 3/06 Field of Search 204/243 R, 244-.247,

204/60, 129, DIG. 3

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,446,674 5/1969 Giner 204/DlG. 3

1451' Aug. 28,1973

6/1925 Baur .7204/129 1,543,357 2,749,293 6/1956 Wahlin 204/129 X 3,544,374 12/1970 D'Alessandro et al. 204/129 X Primary Examiner-John l-l. Mack Assistant Examiner-D. R. Valentine 7 Attorney-Robert R. Cochran et al.

added to the electrolyte to facilitate theelectrolytic recovery of hydrogen at the cathode.

' 5 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure HUMIDIFIER o.c. SOURCE EXHAUST FUEL GAS j 2! STEAM 13 In E N E I g 1 I. Z [6 l H E asroxmue s,

CATALYST a, ,x- MOLTEN ELECTROLYTE a ANODE S/PACE a CATHODE ll 1, MOIST GAS CELL HOUSING 15s 29 rfi 35 g CONDENSOR 1- a APPARATUS FOR ELECTROLYTIC" PURIFICATION OF HYDROGEN RELATED: APPLICATIONS porated herein. 1'0

RELATION APPLICATIQN US; Pat. Ser. No.- 527 ,962, entitled Fuel Cell Elc-' trodes, filed Febz 16', 1966;

BACKGROUND' OF THE-INVENTIGN 1'. Eield of thez lnvention This; invention v relatesv to methods of 'e'lectrochemh cally; producing; high; purity; hydrogen from= carbonaceous feedsandito-the apparatusz-usedifor said hydro 20 gen production process.

2. Description of the Brion-Ant Hydrogen ais generated ioraproduced =either as a reactionwproduct: or as a decompositionproduct: Some of include: (a) the-electrolytic,prOcesSin-Mhichhydrogen is obtained by. the electrolysis: of' 'water or as a: byproduct in other electrochemical processes"suchas 'the electrolysis -:ofaq.ueous :1 solutions of J sodium chloride; (b) itthezh ydrocarbonv decomposition-process; (e) the steam-methanol process; (d) *the steam iron? process; (a) the water-igas=process;4(f) th'e-nonhydrocarbon dis sociationt process;- g) the steam process utilizingmatural' gas :or propane; and! (h% (the partial oxidation"'p'rocess;

Recent developments havea'ledto greater 'requirements :-for :high "purity thydrogen; The: aforementioned processes, vwithathe eexceptionlof :the: electrolytic productionrot1==hydrogen;-v produce hydrogen in an'impure" formwhich .must later bet-purified to .meet the require ments of the-.hydrogenuser. Prior art methods ofpuri-' fying hydrogemdnelude ..:s'crubbingl" thegas'-stream with materials. suchascaustic soda and potassium car bonatesolutionsand alkali metal chloridesrGas-frac tionationaand washing- ,with liquid1nitrogenJ-are*alo= used. Membranes have-\been developed which-are selectively permeable only to hydrogen; The permeability: of such membranes. may vary with thethiCkness ofthe membrane; its: composition; and with the temperature and fpressure under which-the "membrane "is-used; At roomtemperatureiusing conventional electrolysis the theoretical woltage-required to electrolyze wateris l .23 v0Its-.while-duetointemaHosses'commercial processes' require=apotentiabdifference'of'approximatelyl volts 5 orgreater to actually "electrolyze water: Under these 9 conditions the power :costs'in con-ventional electrol'ysis is approximately? 85 to 90 percent of the hydrogen pro-" duction costs;-:hence the production-costs-in priorart PTOCGSSGSi'fOf electrolytical:production ofpure hydro I trolized td'produce' hydrogen and return the hydroiiide ions used in the anodic' reaction to the electrolyte. By

gen have been prohibitive SUMMARY OF- :THE: INVENTION Briefly? thes apparatus and process of m present-in'-' vention involvesa steam:reforming=anode and a hydro- 65 2 used in accordance with this-disc-los'urefhigh purity hy drogen can be produced at a cost' that iscompetitive with that" found in the hydrogen pr'oducti'on industry. The reactions involved are (using CH4 for' example as Thesteamreforming-anode'isdesigiied for in situhydrogen generation While immersed Within the electrolyte": The" aforementioned co-pe'ndin'g' application describes ananod'e" suitable for" use irithis' invention and said applitzatiohieincorporated 59- reference; The anode has awefoi'rtiing chambefi'havirig a surface per:- rneableon'lytohydrogeri' at the'pi'oces's'operating tein p'erature; Thispernieable surfaceniay be" a membrane in' the forni" of a tub'e'or" a"thimhle-,-or' the membrane may-x5e incorporated i as*a wall 0fthe reforming 'Chlhber. Suitable membranes-may: be constiiic'ted of palladiumg-palladiurnsilver alloys, otherpailadium' alloys, or base metals: with palladium coating on both" sides; When i using I palladium coated" base metals, the pallathe principal lmethods forr the :production 0f hydrogenv 25a diu'm should be"applied "to "the baseman by explosive bonding, electroplating; vacuumsputt'e'ririg; or" other methods" which will not allow" an" in'triler'iingmetal OXide fiIrW-B'etWeenTthe palladiumandthe base mate:

2 rial) Suitable base metalsar tantalum", Wolfram, z'iroo n ium ;-ir0n-and nickel. A steam reformin'g catalyst is placed in the reforming chamber by" conventional mean'si' Suitable 'catalystsiare*supported ni'ckel, alkali impregnated supported nickel, supportedpalladium or platinunig or any other knownsteamreformingcatalyst, The anode is 'provided'with inlet and 'outlet tub es so that a-fuel gas "andsteam maybe'charged into the reforrning'achamber and exhaust'gases of the reforming reaction rernoved' therefrom alkali metal hydroxides includingfilithium"hydroxide,

sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide; cesiu'm hy 'droxide, and rubidium" hydroxide; or combinations" thereof, are suitable electrolytes." Molten acid sulfates,

phosphoric acid, acid 'sulfonates,"and biearbonates et'ck,

are also suitable electrolytes for this purpose.

The cathodemayb any electrical conductor which isrel'ativelyinert to'the electrolyte;and'preferablyiis a sheetof metal 'of' low hydrogen over-voltage" "such" as" nickel; platinum or p'a'lladium or a sinteredforrfiof these materials; It is referable fliat thecauiode "mate rial be catalytic for the evolutionbf hydrogen fro r if'wa tel- During operationof my apparatus the ionized hydro gen passing vthrough the membrane reacts with the 'm ol ten "hydroxide" ions to form water." This iwat'er passes through the electrolyte to the cathode where it'isele celiminating theoxygen producing anode from'my ele trolysis' process-" i have eliminatedone of thgr'eizit'r v,yolta'ge' losssource'sfound in conventional electrolysis,

Furthermore, the theoreticai'voltage required tdelec trolyze water under" the operating temperature of l process-is less than 095' volt as opposed to 1.23' volts required when operating at room temperature. With these two factors working to my benefit I have found that it is possible to produce hydrogen with a cell voltage of less than 0.5 volts and a current density of at least 200 volts ma/cm of electrode surface using the process and apparatus of my invention.

During prolonged operation of the apparatus of my invention it sometimes becomes necessary to increase the voltage in order to maintain hydrogen production. I have discovered that the water produced in the anodic reaction does not pass through the electrolyte to the cathode at 100 percent efficiency and that some of the water leaves the cell along with the hydrogen. In order to compensate for this water loss and maintain low voltage operation I have found that the introduction of a small amount of water to the catholyte insures availability of water necessary for the cathode reaction. Some of the moist hydrogen from the product stream can be recycled through the catholyte or steam may be introduced into the catholyte on a carrier such as nitrogen. Only small amounts of steam additions to the catholyte are required to insure that a stoichiometric amount of water is available for the cathodic reaction. An amount equivalent to to 100 percent of the water needed to produce the hydrogen may be introduced. This range is preferrably 20 to 75 percent and I have used 50 percent with exceptionally good results. Table 1 depicts the advantage of adding water to the catholyte as opposed to using only the water produced at the anode. If water is removed from the catholyte without replacement, the cell voltage steadily increases until at about 2.5 volts the alkali metals deposite themselves on the cathode.

' Average of 5 runs.

In general, the objectives of this invention can be accomplished by utilization of steam reformingelectrochemical apparatus at high temperatures with the addition of moist gas to the catholyte.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved process and apparatus for the production of high purity hydrogen at the cathode of an electrolytic cell.

Another object is to replace electrical energy with less expensive chemical energy in a hydrogen production process.

A further object is to provide a new and improved hydrogen production process and apparatus that is economically competitive with present commercial processes.

Other objects will become apparent from the description hereinafter developed and from consideration of this disclosure in connection with the drawing.

' BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The FIGURE is a diagramatical representation of an electrolytic cell with a reforming chamber therein. In

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the FIGURE, the electrolytic cell 11 is filled with a molten hydroxide electrolyte 13. The anode 15 having a reforming chamber 16 therein containing a supported nickel steam reforming catalyst 17 is immersed in the electrolyte. One wallof said anode is constructed of a palladium-silver alloy membrane 19, permeable only to hydrogen at the operating temperature of the process, which is between 400 and 600 C. Preferrable operating temperature for the cell is between 450 and 550 C. The anode has a conduit 21 suitable for introducing fuel and steam into the reforming chamber.

The fuel; which may be methane, ethane or other gaseous hydrocarbons, gasoline or other gaseous hydrocarbons; gasoline or other liquid hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide or carbon monoxide containing gases such as water gas, methanol or other volatilizable carbonaceous material, is charged to the anode in a ratio of at least 2 moles of water per mole of carbon in the carbonaceous fuel; preferably the ratio is about 2.2 to 5.0 moles of water per mole of carbon in the carbonaceous fuel. Although higher ratios can be used, the preferred range pushes hydrogen production close to theoretical maximum under the operating conditions. The anode also contains a conduit 23 for removing exhaust gases from the reforming chamber.

The cathode 25 is a sheet of porus nickel, which may have a catalyst deposited thereon, which is immersed in the molten electrolyte. A conduit 27 in the electrolytical cell housing in the vicinity of the cathode collects the hydrogen. evolved at said cathode and removes it from the cell.

Evolution of hydrogen at the cathode uses water from the electrolyte and moisture must be continually added to the catholyte in order to maintain a low voltage and prevent alkali metal from the electrolyte from being deposited on the cathode. This moisture may be provided by recycling some of the moist hydrogen through a humidifier 28 and through conduit 29 by ad justing valve 31. An outside source of water vapor 33 will also serve the purpose 'of maintaining the catholyte in a moist state. The gas collected in conduit 27 can be passed through a condenser 35 and collected as practically pure product.

An outside D. C. current source 39 is connected across the anode l5 and the cathode 25. Application of the current causes the electrode reactions previously described to take place. Constant removal of hydrogen from the outside surface of the anode by the anodic reation creates an extremely low hydrogen partial pressure at that point which allows hydrogen difi'usion from inside the reforming chamber at a high rate. The cathodic reaction evolves hydrogen at a rate equivalent to the diffusion rate of hydrogen through the membrane and this evolved hydrogen is removed from the cell through conduit 27.

EXAMPLE 1 A cell was set up consisting of a palladium thirnble anode working against various cathodes in a molten electrolyte at 475 C. composed of 90 percent sodium hydroxide and percent potassium hydroxide. Hydrogen was charged into the anode thimble and a potential was applied across the cell. Hydrogen was evolved in the cathode at coulombic efficiencies of about 100 percent; however, the cell voltage had to be increased continually to maintain the initial current density. By introducing a small amount of steam in a carrier gas (moist hydrogen) into the catholyte the voltage of the cell could be maintained at the initial low voltage. When water was introduced at the stoichemetric amount required for the cathode reaction, a cell potential of 0.18 volt required to sustain the initial current density, remained constant for at least 65 hours, the duration of the experiment. Subsequent runs indicated that onehalf the equivalent amount of water yields equally satisfactory results. When the water feed was interrupted during hydrogen evolution the cell voltage would increase, however reintroduction of water into the catholyte would reduce the voltage to its initial level of 0.18 volts.

EXAMPLE 2 Using a palladium thimble anode containing Girdler G-60-RS" steam reforming catalyst in the reforming chamber a methane-steam mixture was charged to the anode, the steam-methane ratio being maintained at about 2.5 moles of steam per mole of carbon in the carbonaceous fuel. This reforming anode was opposed by a nickel screen cathode, the combination being immersed in a molten electrolyte consisting of 90 percent sodium hydroxide and 10 percent potassium hydroxide at about 475 F. A small nitrogen stream containing water was charged to the catholyte. The cell was run at a total current of about 3 amps (about 200 ma/cm). The required voltage for this current was 0.3 to 0.33 volt and it remained essentially constant during a 75 hour run. The humidified nitrogen carried into the cell one-half the stoichemetric amount of water needed by the cathode reaction, the balance apparently being supplied by diffusion from the anode. The hydrogen formed at the cathode corresponds closely to 100 percent of the current drawn (100 percent current efficiency) and also to abut 80 percent of the methane charged to the anode (about 80 percent fuel utilization efficiency).

1 claim:

1. An electrochemical apparatus adapted for association with a voltage source imposing a DC current across an anode and a cathode, for purifying hydrogen gas containing carbonaceous impurities produced by steam reforming comprising in combination:

an electrolytic'cell, adapted to contain a molten alkali hydroxide electrolyte and including a cathode and a hollow anode adapted to be immersed in said electrolyte, said anode having walls, a wall of said anode having at least one hydrogen permeable surface for passing hydrogen produced by steam reforming reactions and flowing to an interior wall of said anode for permeation through said anode into said electrolyte, means for introducing a moist gas into the cell to maintain a controlled concentration of moisture in the electrolyte, and

means for collecting at the cathode a hydrogen stream containing a smaller amount of carbonaceous impurities than in the impure hydrogen stream produced by steam reforming reactions, such purified hydrogen being evolved at the cathode.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the hydrogen permeable surface is made from a palladium containing metal.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said means for introducing moisture to the electrolyte is apparatus for the injection of moisture containing hydrogen recycled from the means for collection of a hydrogen stream at "the cathode, said apparatus including a humidifier for increasing the moisture content of the injected hydrogen.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the'cathode m aterial is a metal selected from the group consisting of nickel, platinum and palladium.

5. In an electrochemical apparatus for purifying hydrogen gas, such apparatus including an anode, a cathode, an electrolytic cell containing an electrolyte, means adapted for association with a voltage source for imposing a DC current across the anode and cathode, means directing a stream of impure hydrogen toward one electrode, such hydrogen having been prepared by steam reforming of carbonaceous fuel and such impure hydrogen containing carbonaceous impurities, means for withdrawing a stream of purified hydrogen from the other electrode, and means causing hydrogen ions selectively to migrate through the electrolyte under the influence of said current to purify the hydrogen stream, the improvement which includes the combination of:

means directing the impure hydrogen stream to a hollow anode having walls, such stream being directed to an interior wall of the anode, whereby such impure hydrogen stream has no contact with the electrolyte,

a membrane selectively permeable to hydrogen in the anode adapted to promote permeation of hydrogen from the interior wall of the anode through the membrane, whereby hydrogen ions are formed in the electrolyte at the exterior face of such membrane; and

means for continuously introducing steam into the electrolyte at a rate corresponding to from about 10 per cent to about per cent of the stoichiosesai's 

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the hydrogen permeable surface is made from a palladium containing metal.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said means for introducing moisture to the electrolyte is apparatus for the injection of moisture containing hydrogen recycled from the means for collection of a hydrogen stream at the cathode, said apparatus including a humidifier for increasing the moisture content of the injected hydrogen.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the cathode material is a metal selected from the group consisting of nickel, platinum and palladium.
 5. In an electrochemical apparatus for purifying hydrogen gas, such apparatus including an anode, a cathode, an electrolytic cell containing an electrolyte, means adapted for association with a voltage source for imposing a D.C. current across the anode and cathode, means directing a stream of impure hydrogen toward one electrode, such hydrogen having been prepared by steam reforming of carbonaceous fuel and such impure hydrogen containing carbonaceous impurities, means for withdrawing a stream of purified hydrogen from the other electrode, and means causing hydrogen ions selectively to migrate through the electrolyte under the influence of said current to purify the hydrogen stream, the improvement which includes the combination of: means directing the impure hydrogen stream to a hollow anode having walls, such stream being directed to an interior wall of the anode, whereby such impure hydrogen stream has no contact with the electrolyte, a membrane selectively permeable to hydrogen in the anode adapted to promote permeation of hydrogen from the interior wall of the anode through the membrane, whereby hydrogen ions are formed in the electrolyte at the exterior face of such membrane; and means for continuously introducing steam into the electrolyte at a rate corresponding to from about 10 per cent to about 100 per cent of the stoichiometric rate of withdrawal of purified hydrogen at the cathode. 